Richard Todd, the actor, who died on December 3 aged 90, was one of the first British officers to land in Normandy in advance of the main D-Day landings and went on to become Britain's highest-earning matinee idol of the post-war years; his most memorable role was that of Wing Commander Guy Gibson, VC, in The Dam Busters (1955), a film he carried with the help of Michael Redgrave as Barnes Wallis.
Handsome, blue-eyed and with an erect military bearing, Todd enjoyed the unusual distinction of appearing in films about D-Day in which the role of his wartime self was played by other actors.
As an officer in the 7th (Light Infantry) Parachute Battalion, he had not only been one of the first to land in Normandy, he had also been among the first to meet the glider force, under the command of Major John Howard, defending Pegasus Bridge, a scene memorably recreated in two epic films in which Todd later starred. In D-Day, the Sixth of June (1956), he played the commanding officer of his unit who vies for the affections of Dana Wynter with his Yank rival Robert Taylor.
In The Longest Day (1962), which was based on the book of the same name by the Telegraph special war correspondent Cornelius Ryan, Todd took the role of Howard, performing one scene opposite the actor playing himself (a role he turned down because "I did not do anything special that would make a good sequence").
"I was, in effect, standing beside myself talking to myself," he noted.
Rumors of a payoff are swirling around the Tiger Woods scandal, but the case isn't a perfect comparison with the affair scandal involving David Letterman -- that allegedly involves extortion, but Fox News' legal expert says the Woods scenario is perfectly legal
Scenario #1: A man contacts a married multimillionaire TV personality and allegedly threatens to spill the beans about the celebrity's sexual peccadillos if he doesn't pay him to stay silent.
Scenario #2: A woman who is reported to have had a sexual affair with a married billionaire sports personality schedules a press conference to discuss the reports, only to cancel abruptly amid rumors that she and the man are negotiating a payoff that will keep her silent.
The first scenario involves a man named Robert J. "Joe" Halderman, who prosecutors in New York say demanded money to remain silent about David Letterman's sexual affairs with staffers, and who claims he was merely trying to sell the "Late Night" host a screenplay for $2 million.
The second scenario involves a brunette named Rachel Uchitel, whose reported affair with Tiger Woods was revealed in the National Enquirer days before the golf legend crashed his car, leading to his admission to "transgressions." Uchitel canceled her scheduled press conference Thursday amid rumors that she was negotiating a settlement with Woods to keep her mouth shut.
One allegedly involves extortion. Halderman is charged with attempted first-degree grand larceny and could face jail time if convicted.
The other is perfectly legal.
Judge Andrew Napolitano, Fox News' senior legal analyst, said the situations differ in that the first scenario is involuntary on Letterman's part and was done under a threat allegedly initiated by Halderman. But the second scenario, if true, is a voluntary act on Woods' part and was performed without a threat from Uchitel.
Asked why he thought Uchitel's press conference was canceled, Napolitano told Fox News' Shepard Smith that the credit likely should go to Uchitel's lawyer, Gloria Allred. "I think that Gloria is probably negotiating -- I'll give her credit -- with Tiger's lawyers for a significant sum for her client and for her fee.
"Gloria is one of the most media-savvy lawyers in California ... She would not cancel the news conference at the height of this crisis, which everyone would be watching, unless it was in her client's best interest to do so."
Napolitano also noted that it would be financially beneficial to Uchitel to continue her initial claims that she and Woods never had an affair.
"I wonder if any money would be involved to maintain that storyline," Napolitano said. "One of the reasons [Woods is] worth a billion is because he's Mr. Clean, and the biggest marketers in the country have hired him to represent their products. They might not want him representing those products if it turns out he's not as Mr. Clean as he's represented himself to be."
Allred, when asked why Thursday's news conference was canceled, declined to comment to FoxNews.com. She also declined to comment regarding reports that Woods and Uchitel spoke as recently as late Wednesday, possibly to discuss financial arrangements.
#2
I've looked all through the Dictionary of Occupational Titles twice, and I still can't find the "professional bimbo" title that is Ms. Uchitel's apparent career choice.
Posted by: Dar ||
12/04/2009 16:22 Comments ||
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#3
Might be interesting for someone to stumble onto a precription of Atripla with Wood's name and doctor on it in the clubhouse locker room. The tabloid 'whore at the door' syndrone might taper off considerably.
Guinea's military leader has been fired on by one of his aides in the capital, Conakry, a government spokesman says. Officials said Capt Moussa Dadis Camara had been injured in the shooting, but his exact condition is not known. Communication Minister Idrissa Cherif said Capt Camara was "doing well". He named aide-de-camp Aboubacar "Toumba" Diakite as being behind the attack. Meanwhile, neighbouring Senegal has sent a medical plane to evacuate Capt Camara.
Mr Cherif said Capt Camara, who took power in a bloodless coup last year, was at a military camp when the shooting occurred. Reports from the city said gunfire broke out near radio station and a base of the presidential guard.
"The president of the republic is still the president of the republic and he is in good health," Mr Cherif was quoted as saying by the Associated Press news agency.He warned that those behind the attack would face punishment. Mr Cherif said that Lt Diakite "has been located, meaning arrested".
Capt Camara has reportedly been taken to the junta's headquarters.
#2
It's gekokujo: "the low oppress the high". Notice how the current tyrant of Guinea's a Captain? Not a naval one, either. Samuel Doe was a sergeant at the time of *his* coup d' etat. The West African states seem to have a particular tendency towards this sort of aggressive self-promotion.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
12/04/2009 9:02 Comments ||
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#1
Go ahead Barry, take a few days off with Michelle, Marian, the kids, selected staff, etc. while in Europe. You've been working very hard. Time for a vacation.
A Russian businessman wanted to auction off a mosque for 600 million rubles ($20 million) to pay off a tax debt, state television reported. The unidentified businessman, who got rich in the gambling industry, was having trouble paying 105 million rubles in taxes after the government banned casinos and slot machines, Vesti-24 news channel reported today. A sale would violate neither religious rules nor the law, according to the channel.
The red mosque in the village of Medyany was one of the largest in the Nizhny Novgorod region and the center of religious life for local Tatars, Vesti said. The majority of mosques in Russia are built and supported by private citizens, according to the channel.
Islam is Russias second most popular religion after Orthodox Christianity. Up to 20 million practicing Muslims live in the Volga region and North Caucasus. During the 70-year Soviet period, many mosques, churches and synagogues were turned into warehouses and factories. Perhaps Putin would consider converting the mosque into a factory for processing Iranian uranium into fuel rods (wink, wink).
After nearly nine months of negotiations, Comcast, the nation's largest cable operator, finally reached an agreement on Thursday to acquire NBC Universal from the General Electric Company.
The deal valued NBC Universal at about $30 billion. The agreement will create a joint venture, with Comcast owning 51 percent and G.E. owning 49 percent. Comcast will contribute to the joint venture its stable of cable channels, which includes Versus, the Golf Channel and E Entertainment, worth about $7.25 billion, and will pay G.E. about $6.5 billion in cash, for a total of $13.75 billion. For now, the network will remain NBC Universal, but ultimately Comcast could decide to change the name.
Almost immediately, the transaction reshapes the nation's entertainment industry, giving a cable provider a huge portfolio of new content, even as it raises the sector's anxieties about the future.
In a joint statement announcing the agreement, Brian L. Roberts, the chief executive of Comcast, said the deal was "a perfect fit for Comcast and will allow us to become a leader in the development and distribution of multiplatform 'anytime, anywhere' media that American consumers are demanding." The deal's genesis lies in frequent flirtations over the last several years between Comcast and General Electric, although serious talks began in March. For Comcast, the purchase is the realization of its long-held ambition to be a major producer of television shows and movies.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/04/2009 00:00 ||
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the deal was "a perfect fit for Comcast and will allow us to become a leader in distributing Obama administration propaganda"
#2
I don't know. Comcast can go exclusive with MSNBC, keeping it in cable and away from the satellite services. Along with those other powerhouses -
Bravo
Chiller
mun2
Oxygen
Syfy
Sleuth
Telemundo Internacional
Universal HD
USA Network
That's a strategy. /sarc off
[Iran Press TV Latest] The US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has warned that despite an improving economy the jobless rate across the nation is going to remain high for some time.
"Most indicators suggest that financial markets are stabilizing and that the economy is emerging from the recession," Bernanke said Thursday at the start of his confirmation hearing for a second term as the Fed's chief, reported AFP.
"Yet our task is far from complete. Far too many Americans are without jobs, and unemployment could remain high for some time even if, as we anticipate, moderate economic growth continues."
Bernanke added that "as we move forward, we must take care that the Federal Reserve remains effective and independent, with the capacity to foster financial stability and to support a return to prosperity and economic opportunity in a context of price stability."
Since the end of 2007, Bernanke's Fed has used extraordinary powers to ward off another Great Depression, including the bailout of big financial companies, together with the Treasury that has put taxpayers' money at risk.
Both houses of Congress are working on legislation to curb the Fed's powers, including an audit of the central bank's interest rate decisions, weaker regulatory powers over banks, and a reduced role for private bankers in the 12 regional Fed banks.
Bernanke, however, attributed great improvement in the financial conditions and the relative economic recovery to the powers exercised by the Federal Reserves.
"Taken together, the Federal Reserve's actions have contributed substantially to the significant improvement in financial conditions and to what now appear to be the beginnings of a turnaround in both the US and foreign economies," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/04/2009 00:00 ||
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Aren't you glad Obama spent 787 BILLION dollars to prevent this. Oh, well, guess he'll have to spend ANOTHER 300 BILLION dollars now.
#2
Simple, when small business start hiring again, unemployment will drop. Small business is not going to hire with Obamacare and impacts of Cap & Trade hammering their bottom lines and the 'rescued' big banks not extending credit. The Fed certainly protected their brethren in the New York money markets, but didn't address the basics about credit to the small guy.
#4
Max income tax rates going from 35% to 39.6% will also stimulate hiring. At least as many as the $3 trillion Federal debt added this year on top of the $9 trillion. And don't forget capital gains taxes going from 15% to 20%. I hear investors love a 33% haircut.
Posted by: ed ||
12/04/2009 8:35 Comments ||
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#5
And don't forget capital gains taxes going from 15% to 20%. I hear investors love a 33% haircut.
Oh yes, lovely scheme indeed, 'capital gains.' You LOSE $ 100,000 on an investment, you can take $ 3K IRS write off per year. You MAKE $ 100,000 on investment(s)...you incur a 100% capital gain obligation. Lovely, lovely scheme.
#6
Since 1980, the only net job creation in the US has come from businesses less than 5 years old. Which is to say that the unemployment rate is probably not going to improve much until credit for small businesses and investment capital start to flow freely again. The 0ne administration seems to think this things just happen on their own but public policy matters here. Banks are not lending right now as they seek to cover their losses in the housing market and the explosion in government spending has virtually smothered investment. The looming tax increases do not help matters much, either. I suspect the unemployment situation will possibly worsen before it starts to improve, and that could be awhile.
#7
The idea here is to intentionally impoverish as many Americans as possible. Poor people vote Democratic and the middle class tends to limit governmental power.
Google has added Pompeii to its Street View application, allowing internet users to take a 360-degree virtual tour of the ancient Roman city. Italy's culture ministry says it hopes the move will boost tourism to the site, state news agency Ansa reports.
Among the ruins visible on the search engine's free mapping service are the town's statues, temples and theatres.
The city was buried in ash after Mount Vesuvius erupted in AD79 and was not discovered until the 18th Century. The volcanic debris preserved many of the city's buildings, frescos, silverware, mosaics and other artefacts.
"Giving people a chance to take a virtual stroll through Pompeii will give an extraordinary boost to Italian tourism," Ansa quoted Mario Resca of the culture ministry's heritage promotion department as saying.
The Google Maps service, launched in 2007, provides panoramic street-level views of more than 100 cities around the world. It also includes the ancient heritage site of Stonehenge.
The last surviving US veteran of World War I has urged members of Congress to rededicate a Washington monument to the memory of his fellow combatants.
Frank Buckles, 108, said the US capital needed a symbol to honour all those who fought in the Great War. A bill, named after Mr Buckles, proposes to rededicate an existing memorial on the National Mall in honour of all Americans who fought in WWI. More than 100,000 Americans lost their lives during the campaign.
Mr Buckles, who travelled to Capitol Hill from his home in West Virginia, told a panel of senators it was "an excellent idea". The official title of the bill is the Frank Buckles World War I Memorial Act. It aims to rededicate the District of Columbia War Memorial which currently only commemorates the citizens of the District of Columbia who served in WWI.
However, the bill has its opponents. Some Washington politicians object to a national takeover of a local monument. And in Missouri, campaigners want to designate a memorial in Kansas City as the National World War I Memorial. The 217ft (66m) monument was dedicated in 1921 by Gen John Pershing and four Allied military leaders.
Mr Buckles joined the US Army at the age of 16 - two years younger than the legal limit - and drove ambulances on the Western Front. In World War II, he worked for a US shipping company in the Philippines and was captured by the Japanese, spending three years in a prison camp. His daughter, Susannah Buckles Flanagan, said that although her father uses a wheelchair and has difficulty hearing, he still enjoys reading and daily exercise.
#1
I have long been of a mind that it is essential to teach children about World War I, emphasizing both the futility of massed infantry wars, and the horrifying character of chemical warfare.
It is right and proper that the 20th Century be remembered as the century of weapons of mass destruction, and more importantly, the willingness to use them. Chemical weapons in World War I as well as the use of herbicides in Vietnam, nuclear weapons in World War II and the Cold War.
And not to forget the horrors visited on mankind by nature's biological weapons, such as the Spanish flu which may have ended World War I, the epidemics that ravaged US training camps in World War II, and the hantavirus epidemic that decimated the Chinese ranks in the Korean War, and might have changed the outcome in our favor.
WWII Vet Fights Homeowners Group Over Va. Flagpole
Medal of Honor recipient Col. Van T. Barfoot, 90, and his daughter Margaret Nicholls lower the flag outside Barfoot's home in the Sussex Square subdivision in western Henrico County, Va., on Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2009. According to the subdivision's homeowner association's board, Col. Barfoot is in violation because he flies the flag from a flagpole instead of a pole attached to his porch or doorway. Col. Barfoot has been ordered to remove the pole by 5pm on Friday or face legal actio
One of the nation's oldest Medal of Honor winners was back in the fight Thursday, this time against a neighborhood association that wants him to take down a front-yard flagpole.
Supporters, including a U.S. senator, have been falling in behind 90-year-old retired Army Col. Van T. Barfoot, a World War II veteran awarded the lofty Congressional honor for actions including standing up to three German tanks with a bazooka and stopping their advance.
New Delhi, Dec 4 (PTI) India and US are in talks to convert its bilateral Malabar series of naval exercises into a joint services war game involving their navies, air forces and marine commandos.
US Pacific Command chief Admiral Robert F Willard, who is on a two-day visit to India, said both nations' militaries had "joint capabilities" but that needed to be practised and hence the idea to involve both countries' air forces and marine commandos in the exercise.
"On both sides, there has been a desire to increase the complexity of the (Malabar) exercise and conduct it in a more joint fashion, by which I mean combining services of the respective nations together... the IAF and Indian Navy conducting a joint exercise in conjunction and in our case, US Navy and Air Force or US Marine Corps," Willard said.
Posted by: john frum ||
12/04/2009 17:03 ||
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message to Pakland. "You're not all that. We have alternatives, and they have nukes too, oh, and a lot less crazed mooslims. Who would we rather deal with?"
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/04/2009 20:56 Comments ||
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Kolkata, India -- Headlines of major Indian newspapers that screamed about a nuclear leak at the Kaiga nuclear power plant in the Indian state of Karnataka on Nov. 24 have been misleading as to the nature of the incident.
The published stories read as though heavy water or deuterium oxide used as a moderator and coolant in the Kaiga-1 nuclear reactor had somehow leaked and mixed with drinking water at the plant, leading to some 50 employees being hit by radiation sickness. To set the record straight, the number of employees that fell sick was right -- but there was no "leak" or radioactive release at Kaiga.
Contrary to what the initial stories seemed to suggest, heavy water used in pressurized heavy water reactors like Kaiga-1 simply cannot "mix" with the drinking water supply at a nuclear power plant. There is no physical connectivity between the plumbing of the drinking water supply and the moderator tubes or coolant channels containing the heavy water.
What did happen, as confirmed by Indian authorities, was that a disgruntled employee poured tritiated or heavy water into one of the water coolers outside the reactor building.
If they catch the employee, he should be charged with X counts of attempted murder.
All personnel who were found to be contaminated during routine urine tests had drunk water from this particular cooler.
As an independent journalist who has been taken on tours of some of India's nuclear power stations, this writer can tell you that there are no coolers in the reactor building of a nuclear plant, nor for that matter are any eatables allowed there.
However, coolers are present in the service building, which is distinct from the reactor building and houses apparel-changing areas and restrooms. It was a cooler in the service building that was found to have been contaminated by someone who had poured tritiated water into the cooler through its overflow pipe, since the lid of the cooler itself was screwed shut.
The source of the radioactive heavy water was a tritium vial, which is normally used to carry heavy water samples from various parts of the reactor for routine chemical analysis. Some of these chemical analysis stations are located in the service building area. Tritium is a radioactive isotope of hydrogen traces, which is generated in heavy water during reactor operations. It is typically used in fusion research and also serves as an ingredient in boosted fission and thermonuclear devices.
India's Atomic Energy Regulatory Board stated that all persons working in the plant were checked and anyone found to have ingested tritium was taken to hospital and given diuretics to accelerate the removal of the tritium by urination. After this treatment only two people showed levels of exposure to radiation that marginally exceeded safety levels. The two were to receive further medical treatment.
This is not the first incident of this sort. In 1990 the Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station in New Brunswick, Canada was witness to a similar perfidy. That time as well, a disgruntled employee had poured the contents of tritium sampling vials into a water cooler, leading to several employees falling ill.
The Indian nuclear industry is deeply regarded the world over for maintaining the most stringent safety standards. The World Association of Nuclear Operators has commended the Nuclear Power Corporation of India, which operates the Kaiga plant, on numerous occasions for its safety standards.
In fact, the early detection of tritium contamination shows the high priority accorded to personnel safety by India's Department of Atomic Energy.
Every Indian nuclear plant has an embedded Health Physics Unit that operates independently of plant authorities and is directly controlled by the Department of Atomic Energy. These units are fundamentalist in their approach to worker safety and are tasked with issuing radiological permits, which contain the clearance as well as work duration, on any given day, for employees scheduled for operations in the reactor building.
There is no concept of "seating" in the reactor level, meaning there is no permanent station for any particular employee. Employees usually enter the reactor level on specific tasks for which clearance is separately granted on each occasion, and the time limit for such tasks is set by the health unit, taking into account ambient levels of radiation to which a worker will be exposed in a particular area of the reactor zone. In exiting the reactor level workers go through radiation scanners and can leave only when cleared by these machines.
Indian nuclear reactors are operated on an eight-hour shift basis, with four shifts of 60 to 70 personnel. One shift is used to facilitate the changeover. When the reactor is in operation, only authorized personnel of a particular shift are allowed into the reactor level, including those who are specifically tasked with collecting heavy water samples.
Contract workers hired for routine jobs like sanitation are typically allowed access only to the service building area and not in the reactor zone when the reactors are in operation. However, during maintenance shutdowns, contract workers may work in the reactor building but only under the supervision of permanent shift employees assigned to the reactor level. This was the case with Kaiga-1, which had been undergoing routine maintenance since October 20, when the recent incident occurred.
Heavy water sample collection is a specific, scheduled activity that cannot be carried out by just anyone. Conspiracy theorists that suggest tritiated heavy water can be found simply lying around a plant to be collected by anybody are indulging in fantasy flights.
Access to all areas of the power plant, including the reactor building, service building and turbine room, can only be gained through computer-controlled grilles monitored by security personnel and requiring authorized electronic dog tags. All structures in the plant have surveillance cameras that record personnel movements.
Given all this, it is nearly impossible for an outsider to breach security at a nuclear plant. These controls also ensure that no terrorist can steal radioactive material from a nuclear power plant, as some alarmists like to fancy. So, in a sense, the public can breathe easy on that point.
However, as evidenced in the Kaiga incident, all these precautions are not enough to prevent a disgruntled insider from indulging in mischief that can seriously endanger colleagues. This needs to be looked into. While no system can be foolproof to every kind of internal sabotage, some new procedures might be needed to better guard against such acts.
Posted by: john frum ||
12/04/2009 00:00 ||
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"Uh, uh... negative, negative. We had a reactor leak here now. Give us a few minutes to lock it down. Large leak, very dangerous."
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
12/04/2009 7:55 Comments ||
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#2
Tritium is a nasty. It is the one thing that EOD types truly loathe, because if you get contaminated, you are looking at about six months of painful medical care to get rid of the damned stuff.
#3
Deuterated water is a pain, not generally fatal because it it not radioactive and acts as a poor surrogate for H2O, but not good for you. Something to be avoided.
Tritiated water is a whole different animal. It is radioactive, and is really bad for you. Something to be avoided at all costs.
I will go to the site and read carefully, but if D20, not good but meh; with T2O, BAD, VERY BAD. Very rare in fact. The is just not a hell of a lot of tritium laying around.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
12/04/2009 10:38 Comments ||
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#4
The Tritium is not a typo.
These are Pressurized Heavy Water reactors (Indian CANDU clones) that use natural (non-enriched) Uranium as fuel and Heavy Water as the moderator.
Tritium builds up in the heavy water. Both Canada and India have developed methods of de-tritiating the heavy water and both now stockpile Tritium.
Posted by: john frum ||
12/04/2009 11:14 Comments ||
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#5
Tritium is valuable.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
12/04/2009 13:40 Comments ||
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#6
Muscatel poisoning is also serious and to be avoided. At least, I've been told....
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/04/2009 19:25 Comments ||
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[Ma'an] Family brawls saw one man shot dead and three detained by Israeli forces in the Shufat Refugee Camp while five were injured and 11 detained by Palestinian police northwest of Ramallah in a second clan clash.
Sources in Shufat said Anwar Gheith, 42, died of a gunshot wound to the chest during clashes between the Abu Srour and Abu Asab families.
Enraged at the death, Gheith's family attacked the alleged killer's family, setting fire to their homes and cars, the sources added. Israeli police reportedly intervened to stop the violence and detained three.
Why could not the highly- and expensively-trained Palestinian police handle it? How mortifying for them.
A three-day truce was declared in hopes that the two clans could resolve the dispute peacefully, sources said.
A second clash in the town of Kufur Ein northwest of Ramallah was quelled by Palestinian Authority (PA) police late Wednesday night, a report said.
The information office of the PA police said forces responded to a report of a fight and arrested 11 people suspected of starting the violence.
Five people were injured, the police said. They were treated at hospitals in Ramallah and the town of Salfit.
The police report added that prosecutors are following up on the cases of the 11 arrestees. The statement also appealed to the public to provide police with information that could help protect Palestinians' lives.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/04/2009 00:00 ||
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There are an awful lot of hints around the world that organized people go back much further than previously thought. Unfortunately, anthropology is about as bad as "climate science" for being emotionally invested in their theories. And more than willing to bitterly attack opposing theories.
To make matters worse, they also have a lot of kooks on their periphery, filled with fanciful tales based on scant evidence. This turns a lot of what they do into a running brawl, full of pettiness and bruised egos.
#2
Interestingly, the culture arose immediately after the catastrophic flooding of the Black Sea due to rising sea levels from climate change 5,000 years ago.
#3
I find it interesting when some archeologist takes a couple of pieces of pottery, a bead and some bone fragments and interpolate a whole society. Most of the time their assumptions reflect their biases more than anything else. Example: The noble South American Indian who would never do wholesale murder. And that was with recorded information by the Spanish that were ignored or discounted.
BTW; was it the Black Sea that flooded about that time when the land bridge ruptured letting the Mediterranean in?
Rinderpest, the world's most devastating cattle disease, will be declared eradicated within 18 months, according to world health bodies.
The effort will make it only the second disease to be wiped from the globe the first was smallpox, eradicated in 1980.
"Rinderpest tops the list of killer diseases [in animals]," says Juan Lubroth, chief veterinary officer for the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in Rome. It not only kills cattle and other wildlife, it also causes famines when people in developing countries lose the beasts they need to plough their fields, he adds.
Eradication of the disease would be a "massive achievement for the veterinary community", says Chris Oura, head of the Non-Vesicular Disease Reference Laboratory Group at the Institute for Animal Health in Pirbright, UK.
Rinderpest, otherwise known as cattle plague, has killed many millions of cattle and other wildlife around the world since it first spread from Asia to Europe in the herds of the invading tribes, causing outbreaks during the Roman Empire in 376-386. Since then, the disease has spread throughout Europe and on to Africa, the Middle East and the Indian sub-continent. Outbreaks in Nigeria during the 1980s cost around $2 billion, according to the FAO.
The disease is caused by a virus called a morbillivirus a group that also includes the measles virus. Clinical signs include fever, discharges from the eyes and nose, diarrhoea and dehydration and the disease kills 80-90% of infected cattle in just 7-10 days. The last outbreak in Asia was in 2000 and the last known cases of the disease were in Kenya in 2001.
The FAO and the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), based in Paris, headed up an international effort to eradicate the disease, which began in 1994 with the launch of the Global Rinderpest Eradication Programme.
The programme's success depended on widespread vaccination programmes and long-term monitoring of cattle and wildlife. A breakthrough in controlling the disease came in the 1980's when a heat-stable vaccine was developed that contained the attenuated virus, allowing the vaccine to be stored and transported over long distances. Rinderpest was a major factor in many wars in the past, especially in Africa. 3/4ths of the British cavalry horses sent there during the Boer War died soon after arrival, severely hampering their fight, whereas the Boer horses were mostly immune.
#2
Later in the war the Khakis acquired... locally bred mounts, formed into very effective anti-guerilla cavalry units. One that has been written about extensively was the Bushveldt Carbineers. The BVC as they were known were very effective in sweep operations, rounding up women and children, burning farms, that sort of thing.
Vietnam could become a key importer of Russian weaponry if several contracts on the purchase of diesel submarines and aircraft are signed in the near future, a Russian newspaper said. Where are they getting the money to buy stuff like this?
According to the Vedomosti business daily, Moscow and Hanoi are close to sign deals on the purchase of six Kilo class diesel-electric submarines and 12 Su-30MK2 Flanker-C multirole fighters.
The submarine contract, worth an estimated $1.8 billion, includes the construction of on-shore infrastructure and training of submarine crews and will be the second largest submarine contract concluded by Russia since the Soviet era after the 2002 deal on the delivery of eight subs to China.
The Project 636 Kilo class submarine is thought to be one of the most silent submarine classes in the world. It has been specifically designed for anti-shipping and anti-submarine operations in relatively shallow waters.
Russia has built Kilo class submarines for India, China and Iran.
Vedomosti also cited sources in Russia's aircraft manufacturing industry as saying a new contract on the delivery of 12 Su-30MK2 fighter jets in addition to eight aircraft of the same type ordered by Vietnam in January 2009.
Su-30MK2 is an advanced two-seat version of the Su-27 Flanker multirole fighter with upgraded electronics and capability to launch anti-ship missiles.
The new contract could be worth at least $600 million, not including the price of on-board weaponry.
In addition, Russia could sign a deal with Vietnam on the delivery of a large number of Mi-17 helicopters, a source in the Russian Helicopters company said during the LIMA 2009 arms show in Malaysia on Wednesday.
According to Russian military analyst Konstantin Makiyenko, the new deals will push Vietnam to the top of the list of major buyers of the Russian weaponry, as the share of China and India in Russia's arms exports is gradually declining.
#2
There are a lot of oil wells in Vietnam. Their production is about 324,000 bbl/day. GDP is $242.3 billion (2008 est.) (CIA factbook). They also export a lot of products to the US.
That being said, there are getting to be a lot of submarines in the world, and it is looking like the battleship build-up prior to WWI.
#3
ION WMF > CHINA WANTS TO LEASE CAM RANH BAY DESPITE VIETNAM'S DENIAL; + CHINA MUST NOT ALLOW VIETNAM TO LEASE CAM RANH BAY FREEPORT TO MAJOR REGIONAL, WORLD POWERS WIDOUT CHINA, + VIETNAM TREMBLING: CHINA IS NOT AFRAID TO FORCE MILITARY, TRADE ACCESS IN THE SOUTH CHINA SEA DESPITE VIETNAM'S CLAIMS OF "CONTINENTAL SHELF" SOVEREIGNTY [SEZ-EEZ's].
[Straits Times] INVESTIGATIONS into the death of 57 people in an election-related massacre in the Philippines must be the start of a major reform process in the country, two United Nations human rights experts said on Wednesday.
The authorities must also put in place immediate measures to prevent similar murders in the run-up to elections next May, said the experts who report to the UN Human Rights Council on extrajudicial killings and on freedom of expression.
'The pre-meditated killing of political opponents, combined with a massive assault on the media, must be tackled at various levels that go well beyond standard murder investigations,' declared the two, Philip Alston and Frank La Rue.
The massacre took place in the southern province of Maguindinao on Nov 23, in the country's deadliest-ever election-related crime. One thousand police officers were being pulled out of the area on Wednesday to pave the way for an impartial investigation, a spokesman said.
Mr Alston and Mr La Rue said the inquiry 'must be followed by effective prosecutions of all those responsible for the killings.' But the massacre should also spark extensive reflection 'on the elite family-dominated manipulation of the political processes and the need to eliminate such practices in order to assure the future of democracy in the Philippines,' they added.
Leading members of a local family, whom President Gloria Arroyo has in the past called valuable political allies, have had their movements restricted as state prosecutors rushed to file murder charges against them.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/04/2009 00:00 ||
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"reform"??? How about, "find the killers and annihilate them"?
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/04/2009 19:28 Comments ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] A much tougher anti-smoking law in Syria, signed by President Bashar al-Assad and due to come into force in early 2010, will outlaw smoking in public places, including restaurants and bars, hospitals, sports halls and cinemas.
The law covers cigarettes and cigars, as well as traditional 'shisha' water pipes.
"The ban is timely," said Mahmoud Etah, a Syrian doctor. "Smoking, especially of water pipes, has become more prevalent among young people and we are yet to see the full health effects."
Posted by: Fred ||
12/04/2009 00:00 ||
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Does this have something to do with the prominent role of hookah-smoking sources in that der Spiegel article on the Israeli bombing of that occult Syrian nuclear processing plant?
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
12/04/2009 9:05 Comments ||
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Pro'lly something to do with creeping Yiddish influences. You know how people dislike the tobacco Juice.
Warmer ocean temperatures caused by global warming could cause sharks and other fish to become more aggressive, according to a new Australian study.
Research conducted by the University of New South Wales found that a slight lift in water temperatures -- just two or three degrees -- can cause some fish to become up to 30 times more aggressive than they normally would be.
The studies were conducted on young damsel fish, but head researcher Dr Peter Biro told ninemsn it is possible that sharks could also undergo a similar transformation in warm water.
Or maybe not; it's all speculation ...
"I would imagine that it might also affect sharks ... we think it is linked to the metabolism of the fishes -- it increases their need to feed," Dr Biro said.
I imagine that it causes sharks to eat scientists. Careful Doc next time in the water ...
The research involved putting the damsel fish in varying temperatures of water and placing other fish behind glass to see how they reacted.
Dr Biro said it was "obvious" the warmer water had an effect.
"Some fish would literally charge at the glass," he said. "I'm quite confident that if the glass was not there they would have torn the other fish to shreds."
So he's re-created Siamese beta fish behavior ...
He predicted the increased aggression caused by climate change would cause some fish populations to dwindle, but it would eventually correct itself.
"They would experience declines in the short term ... but long term i would expect them to adapt," he said.
The test also exposed previously unknown behavioural traits that exist among the damsel fish species. While some fish showed extreme aggressive reaction to the warm water, others did not react at all.
The majority of the fish tested appeared to be at least twice as aggressive in the warm water.
So there might possibly be some evolutionary pressure in some species, depending on whether the increased aggressiveness is evolutionarily advantageous or disadvantageous, which is not known. Also not known is whether the oceans will warm in the near future, but they might... possibly. And while this might matter in the short term, even medium term the changes will cancel out.
That was certainly profound. I hope Dr. Biro does not plan to think so deeply on many other subjects over the course of his career -- he might do himself an injury.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
A Russian businessman wanted to auction off a mosque for 600 million rubles ($20 million) to pay off a tax debt, state television reported. The unidentified businessman, who got rich in the gambling industry, was having trouble paying 105 million rubles in taxes after the government banned casinos and slot machines, Vesti-24 news channel reported today. A sale would violate neither religious rules nor the law, according to the channel.
[Ma'an] Family brawls saw one man shot dead and three detained by Israeli forces in the Shufat Refugee Camp while five were injured and 11 detained by Palestinian police northwest of Ramallah in a second clan clash. 
[Al Arabiya Latest] A much tougher anti-smoking law in Syria, signed by President Bashar al-Assad and due to come into force in early 2010, will outlaw smoking in public places, including restaurants and bars, hospitals, sports halls and cinemas. 
